SmartBlog Insights » workforce

10 valuing behaviors to convey appreciation for staff

Guest Blogger — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:21:23 +0000

Peg Stomierowski Gould, MBA, is a writer and editor focusing on executive leadership, health and wellness, communications, financial services and other topics. Connect with her on LinkedIn. Read her other Insights contributions.

I have discussed leadership’s need to demonstrate appreciation for employees who’ve weathered the worst of recessionary days, often doing the work of two or more people to keep programs afloat and relevant.

Besides five previously mentioned ways to show that you are proactively appreciative, more subtle behavioral expressions –best used on an everyday basis in good times and bad — will help to convey that you can be trusted to value the welfare of your staff.

Organizational transformation consultant Don Warrick suggests these 10 valuing behaviors in his instruction manual Leading and Managing in Changing Times:

• An attitude of genuine caring.
• Active listening.
• Attacking problems, not people.
• Leveling and confronting with caring (rather than by using devaluing behaviors).
• Trust, defined as assuming better than you could.
• Calmness, patience, self-control.
• Reflecting feelings.
• Giving specific rather than general feedback.
• Using descriptive observations over evaluative words.
• Using “I” messages.

Many of these behaviors may have a familiar ring from earlier postings on servant leadership and good stewardship, where the idea essentially is to model those behaviors you want to see. Enlightened leadership should be good news for the organization as a whole and for the career development of association employees.

A TV station recently spoke with Warrick about the management changes taking place onscreen in NBC’s comedy “The Office.” While the sitcom exaggerates the flaws and foibles of managers everywhere, Warrick smartly observed that in real life, there are plenty of bosses — but few leaders.

“Leaders lead and bring out the best in people in the organization and bosses boss people … and it is a whole different mindset.”

The workplace mindset is rooted in your own goals and intentions.

In my next post, we’ll acknowledge the shadow side of real-life workplace morale, naming 10 specific devaluing behaviors to avoid ─ some subtle, some not so subtle ─ as leaders try to restore positive expectations where there have been downturns in employee morale.

Be proactively appreciative to prevent resumes from flying

Guest Blogger — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:25:19 +0000

Peg Stomierowski Gould is a writer and editor focusing on executive leadership, health and wellness, communications, financial services and other topics. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

Worker morale suffered greatly during the economic downturn as employers — focused on cutting costs — froze wages, cut bonuses and expected many employees to do a lot more with a lot less. The American Psychological Association has confirmed the results in terms of chronic stress. Employers should check out MetLife’s most recent annual survey of attitudes in U.S. workplaces for even more eye-opening news.

These surveys suggest that prolonged belt tightening has taken a toll on loyalty. Some reports indicate more than 80% of employed Americans are getting their resumes and contacts in gear to consider a move in 2011. No longer are they paralyzed by survival fear and “just happy to still have a job.”

But not all employers are paying attention, and many are not savvy enough to have adjusted their retention strategies to the changing times. Resolve not to be one of these organizations.

Recruitment and motivation are so intertwined you easily could pay an unnecessary toll in terms of retention and productivity. Maintain a forward focus. Be proactively appreciative. Start small, but start somewhere.

With recovery stirring, employees are remembering that they want more than money, security and benefits. They want managers who care about their growth, stress levels, contributions and engagement.

Five possible options to consider to be proactively appreciative:

Offer job and benefits sharing, work from home options and flexible work shifts.

Schedule 15-minute chair massage sessions at least once every other month.

Offer free fruit and other healthful snacks, or replace vending machine offerings with healthful fare.

Provide meaningful enrichment activities, including time, stress and debt management/wealth building sessions, career planning and social networking skills classes for all employees.

Invite employees into your benefits brainstorming sessions.

Besides compensation, flexibility and relevant benefits, employees — like volunteers — want connection, appreciation and options.

Getting to Good-bye: Ten tips to a less painful termination

Guest Blogger — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:38:47 +0000

Janet McNichol, SPHR, CAE, is the Human Resources Director at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. She is passionate about health and wellness and blogs about her experience managing ASHA’s program at Inside Workplace Wellness. Connect with her on LinkedIn or Twitter at @jmcnichol.

In my last post, I talked about the candidate experience. The perspective was — when your members are your candidates, making sure they feel respected and appreciated throughout the process matters. So, what about the flip side of the coin? How do you best approach terminating a staff member — especially one who is also a member of your association? Here are some tips:

Focus on your goal. If your goal is to part ways with a minimum amount of “noise,” don’t get distracted and decide to take a stand on something that doesn’t help you reach your goal.

Be respectful. Remember the individual is likely to be hurt, embarrassed, fearful, and feel like what’s happening is completely outside their control. You can help the individual through the initial phase of the transition by being respectful, flexible, and empathetic. Listen carefully in meetings with the individual. Take notes and assure them you will pass along any feedback they want to share. Some people may be more comfortable talking with you outside the office. If you think that is the case, arrange to meet the individual at a coffee shop for all but the initial termination meeting.

Split responsibilities. Have one staff member deliver the message — usually the supervisor — and another negotiate “how” the individual will part ways with your organization — usually someone in human resources. It’s generally helpful to have both individuals present at the initial termination meeting, but the supervisor should be delivering the termination message.

Prepare a script for the initial termination meeting. The script should be brief and to the point. Sometimes it’s helpful to let the individual vent a little, but do not say or do anything that might give the impression the decision will be reconsidered. If you don’t have a lot of experience with terminations, you may want to ask your attorney for help developing the script.

Set a date. Except in the most egregious circumstances, it’s best to let the individual know that you need to end their employment and then agree upon the last day they are to work. This makes it easier for the transition to be presented to others as the individual’s choice which is usually better for both parties. If the individual does something horribly inappropriate during that time frame, the employer can always instruct the individual to leave sooner.

Identify interests. Time and time again, I go back to what I learned at a Harvard Business School seminar on negotiation that was based on Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and WIlliam Ury. They suggest that, “The basic problem in a negotiation lies not in conflicting positions, but in the conflict between each side’s needs, desires, concerns, and fears.” I start with a blank sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. I note our organizations interests on one side — part ways with a minimum of noise, obtain a release, complete the transition by a certain date, etc… Then, I meet with the departing employee and ask questions to ascertain his or her interests. It’s important not to assume you know what the individual’s interests are — ask and take notes. What you learn may surprise you. We tend to think people will be most concerned about money, but I’ve encountered an array of interests. Sometimes people are concerned about how their leaving is characterized and communicated, sometimes they want help continuing their health insurance. I’ve had people ask me for a subscription to CEO Update, an old laptop computer or a stack of Metro fare cards.

Generate options. Think of ways you can meet both parties’ interests. Approach this like a brainstorming session. It’s often helpful to ask another individual that’s privy to the specifics of the situation to help you with this. Then, meet with the separating employee again and present your ideas. Listen for ways to tweak your offer to maximize the positive impact. If you’re offering to provide benefits the individual is not otherwise entitled to receive, inform the employee that you’ll have the offer put into a separation agreement. Let them know that it will be a legal document, but assure them you’ll do your best to make it easy to read and understand. Let them know that they’ll be given time to review it with an attorney if they choice.

Draw up the separation agreement if you are offering to provide benefits the employee isn’t otherwise entitled to receive. Consult with your attorney and ask them to help you prepare the agreement. We work from a template that’s about three pages and written in plain english. Sometimes it’s best to present the agreement before the individual’s last day so the person can come back to you with questions. If the individual has an attorney, you can have their attorney deal directly with your attorney in any further negotiations. Remember that people can only release what’s already happened, so they shouldn’t sign the agreement before their last day of work.

Develop a communications plan. Always agree upon what will be communicated to whom and when with the departing employee. Think about how you will announce the separation to staff and members and agree on what information will be shared. Help the individual think about how to respond to inquiries and well wishes from others.

Throw a farewell party. If you want to present the separation as the employee’s choice, you need to treat the individual like you would anyone else leaving on positive terms. If you would normally have a party or take the team out to lunch, do it if the individual consents.

‘Tis the season to let people know they’re appreciated

Guest Blogger — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 19:41:55 +0000

Vanessa LaClair, CMP is president-elect for MPI NENY, and the event coordinator for IPPNY, a trade association in Albany, N.Y. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.

It’s that time of year when we go out of our way to show others how much we appreciate what they’ve done for us.

I’ve said it before, and it’s worth repeating. A little thanks and praise can go a long way, no matter what stage of life you’re in, be it child or adult. Never be afraid to recognize the accomplishments of your co-workers, employees and members! Do not let another person’s rise make you insecure or resentful. All too often we forget to thank others.

In my opinion, one of the WORST things you can do as an employer (and even as a co-worker) is NOT praise an employee for their accomplishments and contributions. Employees who are involved in activities outside the office that develop their own personal and professional relationships are some of the best kinds of employees. If supported internally, they can even be some of the most loyal. They are continuously striving to do better, to enhance their education in order to learn new skill sets to keep them one step ahead of the game. A benefit to any company or organization.

Remember, employees don’t always do those things just so they can leave their jobs; most often it’s so that they will STAY at their jobs — and be viewed as an asset. What better asset to have than an employee who is ahead of the curve, keeping the company up to speed? Unfortunately, without support (and I don’t mean a pat on the back for every little thing) you will eventually lose good, loyal employees to someone much more supportive.

As an event professional, I am thankful that my employer supports my volunteer activities. As a member of MPI and a leadership volunteer on the MPI NENY board, I am able to remain apprised of changes in the events industry, in contact with new and potential suppliers, and keep my education and professional development on track. In my volunteer world, I continue to serve on the MPI NENY Board of Directors as President-Elect. I am so honored to work with so many volunteers! I know how hard they all work, both as volunteers and for their own paying jobs every day! MPI NENY has some great volunteers, who give up so much of their free time to the benefit of the Chapter. It goes to show how much being a part of MPI NENY means to the people involved. We love our profession.

Consider the following from “A Touch of Business”

Employee recognition boosts morale and employee performance.
Employee recognition should not be considered a reward as much as “employee courtesy and consideration.”
Have an open-door policy where employees feel comfortable sharing thoughts and opinions.
Create a “family-like” atmosphere and recognize all employees for your appreciation of their hard work.
Employee recognition is most effective when giving pats on the back during the day to each employee.
Employee recognition adds pride in your business. After all, it is the employees who make your business run. Be the first one to say, “I’ve got the best employees on earth” and watch employee performance improve.

So let’s acknowledge our hard working employees, celebrate dedicated volunteers and thank loyal members and clients. They should be recognized not just at the end of the year but throughout.

Happy holidays!

Tips to reboot your .org workforce’s mindset

Guest Blogger — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 21:36:20 +0000

Deirdre Reid, CAE, is a freelance writer who helps organizations create content and conversation. Connect with her at Reid All About It or @DeirdreReid.

Last week KLM said its frequent flier program will include advance tickets for sub-orbital space flights from Space Experience Curaçao. Flights could begin as early as 2014. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has already begun test flights on its six-passenger space plane. 370 seats, at $200,000 each, have already been reserved.

The Overview Institute must be overjoyed at this news. Their wish is for people to have the same “fundamental perspective-altering experience” that astronauts do when looking back at Earth from space — the Overview Effect.

“…the experience of seeing firsthand the reality of the Earth in space, … a tiny, fragile ball of life, hanging in the void, shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere … national boundaries vanish, the conflicts that divide us become less important and the need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect this “pale blue dot” becomes both obvious and imperative.”

We can’t even begin to imagine that experience and perspective. However, we can understand why it occurs. Our perspective shifts after spending time in a non-Western country or any culture that’s markedly different from our own. New insights emerge. On a hike along a mountain trail or a stroll at the beach, our mind expands into the space that surrounds us. Ideas flow.

In the office, we’re often too busy to think. Our daily lives don’t encourage deep strategic and creative thinking. How do we make time and space to think and gain new perspective to help us meet the challenges we face? How do we ‘reset’ or reboot our minds so we can create new ways of fulfilling our mission, short of getting on a space plane?

Retreats: Don’t rely on the same people you always use to facilitate if you want different results. Find the innovators in the profession.
Idea flow: Get out of the office for small group gatherings in odd places. Create a list of conversation starters. Try a walk or a picnic in nature; an outing to a museum, historical site or zoo; or a train or RV excursion.
Have each staff person spend a day with a member. Don’t leave out your administrative, accounting, HR and IT staff; they can visit their counterparts.
Reset days: Take a few days for intentional reflection, learning and reading by all staff. Some offices do this at the end of the year between holidays and build personal planning time into it too. Plan it around your legislative, regulatory and meeting calendars.
Alert your leadership and set the e-mail, phones and social media to “out of office.” No working and catching up allowed.
Bring in outsiders for brown bag lectures or Q&A sessions.
Schedule specific reading and meet as a book club.
Try some camp activities; make something with your hands.
Create quiet reading areas.
Schedule time to share discoveries with each other.

In an attention-deficit, multi-tasking world, sometimes we need to detach and get some distance for a while to gain the perspective necessary to keep moving our organizations forward. A space flight isn’t in anyone’s budget, but you can find creative ways to spark innovative and strategic thinking with your staff.

ASHA’s First Biggest Loser Campaign (Part 1)

Guest Blogger — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:09:35 +0000

This SmartBrief Insights guest post comes from Janet McNichol, SPHR, CAE, is the Human Resources Director at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. She is passionate about health and wellness and blogs about her experience managing ASHA’s program at Inside Workplace Wellness. Connect with her on LinkedIn or Twitter at @jmcnichol.

We’ve had a lot of success with our wellness program over the years. Many staff members participate in screenings and educational events and 25% of the staff take at least one exercise class a week in the office. While we are pleased with the level of participation, there are still more employees that we are hoping to reach. We decided to build on the TV excitement and kick off a Biggest Loser program in January 2010 — 99 staff members (40% of the staff) signed up to participate! This far exceeded our expectations.

We have an ongoing relationship with LifeWork Strategies, an affiliate of Adventist Health Care. They have done our on-site screenings for years and our staff trusts them. We contracted with them to handle all the screenings and most of the education for our Biggest Loser program.

We calendared out the whole program and shared that information with staff before they made a commitment to participate. This turned out to be critical to the success of the program. People knew what to expect and what they were committing to do from the start. We even had everyone sign a pledge of participation and encouraged everyone to take the commitment seriously.

We formed 11 Biggest Loser Teams. Our 12 week program included the following components:

Screenings and Assessments

We conducted assessments at the beginning, middle and end of the program. Each assessment included weight, BMI, body fat, waist circumference, push-ups, sit-ups, flexibility and blood pressure. The initial and end point assessments also included a blood draw with a lipid panel and a glucose test. These blood tests were the biggest expense to the program. About a week after the initial assessment, each individual met one-on-one with a nurse and received a written report with the results. People also set individual goals for themselves.

If we do this again, we’ll probably keep the screenings simpler — just weight, body fat, and maybe cholesterol and blood glucose. We’ll save the fitness related assessments for other programs.

Weekly Weigh-Ins

We required all the participants to weigh-in weekly and report their weight confidentially via our intranet. Although public humiliation can be motivational, we decided to deviate from the show in this respect. We have good doctor’s office type scales in both our men’s and women’s locker rooms, but we used a basic digital scale at the initial screenings since it was easy to move. Afterward, we put it in the HR area for people to use for their weekly weigh-ins. LifeWorks Strategies kept the “official” numbers for our participants and we recognized our winners at the conclusion of the program based on the “official” numbers.

Team Challenges

The program included three Biggest Loser Team Challenges. Participation increased with each challenge and there were lots of smiles and laughter. True Athlete Performance planned and executed the events for us. They have experience running high school sports combines, so putting 11 teams through three challenges in two hours was a walk in the park for them.

A few people asked us what the activities would be, but we decided to keep the specifics under wraps much like the show. We did let folks know that there would be a speed and agility challenge, a strength challenge and a balance challenges. The activities were all things the participants could do dressed in their casual Friday attire and tennis shoes. We declared first, second and third place with bragging rights being the prize. You can read more about each of the team challenges and see pictures here, here and here.

Next week we will explore the rest of the program components and share our results.

Why mere diversity isn’t enough

Guest Blogger — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:29:20 +0000

SmartBrief editor Mary Ellen Slayter is reporting live from the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference in San Diego this week. She met with Eric Peterson, SHRM’s manager for diversity and inclusion, and talked about the difference between diversity and inclusion, what drives his passion for diversity issues and how SHRM is working to make workplaces more welcoming to military veterans.

Check out our full interview with Eric on our sister blog, SmartBrief on Workforce.

3 reasons employees will leave your association after the recession

Jessica Strelitz — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:37:08 +0000

A recent guest post on SmartBlog on Workforce by Lance Haun, vice president of outreach for MeritBuilder, could also easily apply to associations, professional societies and nonprofits. What are you doing now to keep key players around when things get better? Huan’s thoughts:

“When I first entered corporate HR, we were in a boom period. Do you remember that? I barely can. I remember hearing about the crisis of the coming labor shortage and how we would be on our knees begging and pleading for people nearing retirement to stay, convincing Gen Xers to stay with meaningless promotions and scooping up as many Gen Yers as we possibly could.

When I first entered corporate HR, we were in a boom period. Do you remember that? I barely can. I remember hearing about the crisis of the coming labor shortage and how we would be on our knees begging and pleading for people nearing retirement to stay, convincing Gen Xers to stay with meaningless promotions and scooping up as many Gen Yers as we possibly could.

Those were the good old days. That is, if you were a person looking for work.

With unemployment pushing 10%, perhaps employers are taking a breather. They can worry less about people leaving and when they do, they aren’t sweating that, either. Now, instead of candidates asking for stock options, they are asking if the job is full time and offers health insurance. There is talent out there, and it is cheap.

After the recession ends though, some of your best talent may be walking out the door. They probably won’t tell you why either … Here are a couple of hints:

You didn’t operate with integrity. That can be anything from giving your executives big bonuses while you cut pay for everyone else to offering a new employee 60% of your normal base because people are desperate. If a company operates honestly and suffers, people can hold their head up. Employees can smell busted integrity from a mile away though. When they can get away, they can.

You lack real leadership. Scare tactics? Hiding? Spinmeister? Denial? If these words can be used to describe how your executive team operated during the recession, expect some big-time turnover. Employees look to management to inspire confidence and promote accountability but also to be upfront and honest. Management’s true colors can show during a recession, and employees will remember them.

You didn’t do the easy things. When you were piling on the work, zeroing out bonus checks and raises, and expecting more productivity with less, did you say thank you more often? Did you recognize their accomplishments as more impressive with the limited resources? When they worked 20 hours over the weekend, did you allow them to take an afternoon off to watch a kid’s soccer game?

If you’re not hitting a home run in all three of these areas (or at least a solid double), how are you fixing it or what are you going to do to stem the tide of turnover when it hits?”

SmartBlog Insights » workforce

10 valuing behaviors to convey appreciation for staff

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Be proactively appreciative to prevent resumes from flying

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Getting to Good-bye: Ten tips to a less painful termination

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‘Tis the season to let people know they’re appreciated

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Tips to reboot your .org workforce’s mindset

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ASHA’s First Biggest Loser Campaign (Part 1)

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Why mere diversity isn’t enough

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3 reasons employees will leave your association after the recession

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